Bill Brady making four stops to announce run for governor

Friday

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, who placed third in a primary for governor in 2006, is renewing his bid for the state’s top office with a four-city fly-around planned for Monday.

State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, who placed third in a primary for governor in 2006, is renewing his bid for the state’s top office with a four-city fly-around planned for Monday.

Brady is scheduled to be at Springfield’s Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport at 1 p.m., with other stops in Chicago, Marion and Bloomington, said campaign director Dan Egler.

In the 2006 GOP primary, then-state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka got the win with 38 percent of the vote, to about 32 percent for Jim Oberweis and 18 percent for Brady. Ron Gidwitz followed with nearly 11 percent, and Andy Martin got less than 1 percent.

Topinka was defeated in the 2006 general election by then-incumbent Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Brady has made no secret of his intentions to run again. Just two days after the Nov. 4 presidential election, Brady e-mailed supporters a letter saying that the results had “strengthened my resolve, and I hope to lead the Republican ticket in 2010.”

Brady’s 44th Senate District includes part of eastern Sangamon County.

Others Republicans who have expressed interest in running for governor include Doug Whitley, who is on a leave of absence from being president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce; and DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, who was Topinka’s running mate in 2006 and ran for attorney general in 2002, getting 47 percent but losing to Democrat Lisa Madigan.

State Journal-Register

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